


do you know what it's like to feel so in the dark

by QueenIsabelle



Category: Frozen (Disney Movies), Rise of the Guardians (2012)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Summer Camp, Camp Counselors AU, F/M, One Shot, Some angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-31
Updated: 2020-03-31
Packaged: 2021-02-28 23:48:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,157
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23405551
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/QueenIsabelle/pseuds/QueenIsabelle
Summary: “You know I have feelings for you.” This was stated without preamble—no waffling, stuttering, or mumbling. It was unaccompanied by a smirk or a laugh. It was honest and raw.
Relationships: Elsa (Disney) & Jack Frost (Guardians of Childhood), Elsa (Disney)/Jack Frost (Guardians of Childhood)
Comments: 7
Kudos: 36





	do you know what it's like to feel so in the dark

“You know I have feelings for you.” This was stated without preamble—no waffling, stuttering, or mumbling. It was unaccompanied by a smirk or a laugh. It was honest and raw. Elsa blinked, taken aback by the serious look to Jack’s face. He stared at her unflinchingly, letting his words hang in the air between them.

“W-what?” Elsa asked. Jack swallowed hard and ran a hand through his hair, making the white strands stand up on the ends. It was unfair how unbearably hot he looked like that.

“Don’t play dumb, Elsa,” he said. “Everyone knows. Even the kids are bugging me about it.”

At this, Elsa glanced back at her cabin, where her twelve campers were all tucked away in their bunks. She half-expected to see the girls standing at the windows, giggling and pointing as they often did whenever the infamous Jack Frost strolled past them. But no, the lights were still off and there were no faces pressed against the screens. That didn’t mean that little ears weren't listening.

Elsa marked her page, set her book down, and stood up. “Come on,” Elsa said, motioning Jack to follow her down the gravel path. 

She said nothing as they walked towards the area where gravel met concrete, far enough away that no one could spy on them but close enough that Elsa could keep watch over her cabin. She sighed, wrapping her arms around herself as a breeze blew by, and turned to face Jack.

Jack Frost. Self-proclaimed camp prankster. Hottest counselor at Camp Burgess. That wasn’t even Elsa’s opinion; Anna had shown her the results of the unofficial poll that all of the counselors had taken at the beginning of the summer. Of course, it wasn’t like Elsa didn’t agree that Jack was attractive, with his messy white hair and mesmerizing blue eyes and husky laugh—

Elsa blinked and mentally slapped herself. She coughed into her hand as Jack glanced down at his feet and back up at her.

“Well?” he prompted.

“Well, what?”

“Elsa, God, just say something.”

Elsa didn’t know what to say. In fact, all of this was news to her.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” she said honestly. Jack froze, his eyes wide and mouth partially open.

“What?” he asked.

“I mean, I haven’t heard anything. Yeah, the girls laugh at you, but that’s just because they think you’re cute. I mean, they’re twelve. They’re going to laugh at cute, older boys,” Elsa said, beginning to ramble.

“Did you just call me cute?”

“What? No.”

“I think you did. In fact, you said it several times.”

“I said the girls think you’re cute.”

“But you said that I was cute.”

“Objectively.”

“So, objectively, you think I’m cute.”

“I don’t know why I’m the one getting the third degree here. You said you have feelings for me.” The words fell out of her mouth before she could stop them. Her cheeks burned a bright red. She really didn’t want to hear about Jack’s feelings for her. Because he didn’t have feelings for her. He was teasing her. And even if he wasn’t teasing her, she didn’t have time for a relationship or a flirtation or whatever this was. She had college to think about and then grad school and then taking over the family company. This was simply a summer job to build up the resume. She wasn’t here to make friends.

Jack sucked in a breath. “Oh, so you heard that.”

“Yeah. You said it. To my face. How would I not have heard that?” Elsa asked, willing the heat in her face to fade. Jack shrugged.

“The wind?” he suggested weakly. Elsa couldn’t help it: she laughed. The sound burst out of her before she could stop it. She pursed her lips to stem the flow, but Jack heard the sound and grinned at her. It was a grin of pure happiness, and the butterflies in her stomach acted accordingly. God, if she could get those butterflies under control, that would be great.

It took a moment, but finally, her giggles subsided. The two counselors stood in silence, the crickets chirping the only sound. Elsa took a breath and opened her mouth—to say what, she didn’t know.

Jack beat her to it: “I’m sorry.”

Elsa paused. “Sorry for what?”

“It— This was a dare,” he said finally, hands shoved into the pockets of his stupid blue hoodie. Elsa let out a breath, a little bit relieved but mostly disappointed. She hated that she was disappointed.

“Oh,” Elsa said. He let out a harsh laugh and kicked at the gravel at his feet.

“It’s just— you know, a few of us had the night off, and we were drinking and messing around, and Hans—”

Ah, Hans. Her sister’s stupid boyfriend. Elsa fucking hated him.

“—he dared me, and it was dumb. I shouldn’t have— I’m sorry,” Jack continued.

“Don’t worry about it,” Elsa said, finally able to choke the words out. Jack looked up at her.

“Seriously, it’s a relief. I mean, I don’t know what I would have done if you’d actually meant it,” Elsa said, ignoring the swoop in her stomach and the pain in her heart. For a second, she thought she saw a flash of hurt in Jack’s eyes, but it was quickly replaced with his usual mirth and cheer.

“Yeah?” he asked.

Elsa nodded. “Yeah.”

“Good, good. Because I know I’m a prankster, but I wasn’t trying to play with your feelings or anything,” Jack said.

“Well, I don’t have feelings,” Elsa said. “For you. Like, I have feelings in general.”

“Not a lot though, right? Ice Queen,” Jack said, using the unofficial nickname she’d been given the first week of training. Elsa swallowed the lump in her throat.

“Yeah, that’s me. Unfeeling bitch.” Elsa looked down at her hands, folded primly in front of her. She blinked back the burning behind her eyes and bit her lip.

“What? No, that’s not what I—”

“I need to get back to my girls,” Elsa said, pointing her thumb over her shoulder, in the direction of her cabin. She avoided Jack’s eyes, her own gaze fixed on the frayed string of his hoodie. “Um, you guys probably shouldn’t be drinking on camp property. You’ll get in trouble.” Elsa turned to go then, breath caught somewhere between her heart and her throat.

“I’ll see you tomorrow, right?” Jack called. Elsa stopped and glanced over her shoulder. “At the Blob?”

Fuck, he was right. They had Blob duty. Elsa hated the lake.

“Yep, see you then.” She walked back to her cabin’s porch and sat down in the wooden chair, picking her book back up and flipping open to the page she’d been reading. She didn’t see the words on the page though. And she didn’t see Jack at the end of the path, staring at her with regret and a little bit of longing.

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! Thanks for reading! I was a little stuck with my other stories, so I decided that I needed something to break the ice to hopefully get the ball rolling and this came out! It was supposed to be fluff, but it's kind of angst-y. And now I'm debating making a series of one-shots in this universe. What do you think?
> 
> Anyways, I'm hoping to have new updates posted for DOTI, ITITDG, and my JoBros one-shot inspired series coming up soon. 
> 
> Thanks again!
> 
> ~Isabelle


End file.
